CONFLICT AND ENVIRONMENT IN NORTH LEBANON Vulnerability and resilience from a multi-disciplinary perspective

Abstract

Lebanon's history has been scarred by repeated episodes of armed conflict: the Civil War, the Israel-Lebanon war, the Nahr-el Bared clashes, the recurrent clashes in Tripoli between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jebel Mohsen, and, more recently, the spill-over from the war in Syria. This has resulted in tragic human loss, trauma, disruption of communities and families, migration and displacement, and the destruction of infrastructure and property. Less well-known, but certainly not less substantial, have been the effects of armed conflicts on North-Lebanon's natural environment. In this book, we explore these direct and indirect impacts of violent conflict on North Lebanon's natural environment and their effects on the livelihoods of the population of North Lebanon. We do so through a series of stand-alone studies. All chapters draw on an analytical framework revolving around the concepts of vulnerability and resilience of citizens, municipalities and the private sector in the management of their environment and protection of natural resources. Three components are essential in the analysis: exposure, sensitivity and resilience. We explore various manifestations of resilience that have often developed in the absence of contingency planning, disaster management plans, emergency response mechanisms or even the acknowledgement of an emergency situation. Resilience, in such a context, first and foremost requires cooperation to muster the capacity to address environmental degradation that emerged from the conflict itself or flourished in the absence of formal governance structures. We argue that it is necessary to integrate lessons from the complex political reality of multiple political authorities and plural and instable political institutions into our analyses of vulnerability. As such, our book not only offers innovative analysis of the multifaceted relations between conflict, vulnerability and the natural environment, it also calls for a re-positioning of the notion of vulnerability in relation to state fragility and political hybridity.

Full text

CONFLICT AND ENVIRONMENT
IN NORTH LEBANON
Vulnerability and resilience from a
multi-disciplinary perspective
Lebanon’s history has been scarred by repeated episodes of armed conflict: the Civil War,
the Israel-Lebanon war, the Nahr-el Bared clashes, the recurrent clashes in Tripoli between
Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jebel Mohsen, and, more recently, the spill-over from the war in
Syria. This has resulted in tragic human loss, trauma, disruption of communities and
families, migration and displacement, and the destruction of infrastructure and property.
Less well-known, but certainly not less substantial, have been the effects of armed conflicts
on North-Lebanon’s natural environment.
In this book, we explore these direct and indirect impacts of violent conflict on North
Lebanon’s natural environment and their effects on the livelihoods of the population of
North Lebanon. We do so through a series of stand-alone studies. All chapters draw on an
analytical framework revolving around the concepts of vulnerability and resilience of
citizens, municipalities and the private sector in the management of their environment and
protection of natural resources.
Three components are essential in the analysis: exposure, sensitivity and resilience. We
explore various manifestations of resilience that have often developed in the absence of
contingency planning, disaster management plans, emergency response mechanisms or
even the acknowledgement of an emergency situation. Resilience, in such a context, first
and foremost requires cooperation to muster the capacity to address environmental
degradation that emerged from the conflict itself or flourished in the absence of formal
governance structures.
We argue that it is necessary to integrate lessons from the complex political reality of
multiple political authorities and plural and instable political institutions into our analyses
of vulnerability. As such, our book not only offers innovative analysis of the multifaceted
relations between conflict, vulnerability and the natural environment, it also calls for a re-
positioning of the notion of vulnerability in relation to state fragility and political hybridity.
ISBN: 978-94-6259-527-9
CONFLICT AND ENVIRONMENT IN NORTH LEBANON
Irna van der Molen and Nora Stel (eds.)
Edited by Irna van der Molen and Nora Stel